BioE Seminar: Confronting the Spatial Biology RNA Therapeutics and RNA Viruses, from Whole Organisms to the Nanoscale
Thursday, April 26, 2018
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Fitzpatrick Center Schiciano Auditorium Side B, room 1466
Presenter
Philip Santangelo, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Abstract:
As engineers we are trained, early on, to think spatially, starting in physics and calculus. In my lab, we continue to do so, from the nanoscale through the scale of whole organisms, developing imaging tools that allow us to gain information regarding the localization and interaction of molecules during disease pathogenesis and therapeutics that take advantage of local, versus systemic, delivery. Specifically, my group has been interested in the pathogenesis of RNA viruses, including HIV, and the development of tools to elucidate the spatiotemporal dynamics of these infections in vivo and their response to treatment. In addition, we’ve been developing RNA-based therapeutics for organ-specific delivery, such as in the heart, lungs, and brain. In this seminar, I'll introduce positron emission tomography (PET) contrast agents for interrogating SIV and SHIV infections in the rhesus macaque model, and mRNA-based therapeutics for preventing respiratory infections.
Biography:
Dr. Philip J. Santangelo is an Associate Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. He graduated from Polytechnic University (NY) (currently NYU) in 1991 with a B.S. In 1998, he obtained his Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of California at Davis under Dr. Ian Kennedy, on the development of laser-based diagnostics for multiphase reacting jets and droplet streams. Dr. Santangelo followed his Ph.D. with a postdoctoral fellowship at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California under Christopher Shaddix, and a position in industry, at Micron Optics, Inc., in Atlanta, Georgia. Next, Dr. Santangelo returned to academia at Georgia Tech working under Dr. Gang Bao until 2007 when he started as an Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech. Dr. Santangelo’s current research focuses on the development of imaging technology for the study of RNA regulation and the pathogenesis of RNA viruses, and the development of RNA-based therapeutics and vaccines.
Contact
King, Pamela
919-660-5335
pamela.king@duke.edu